Jonathan Bonaguro
Hometown: Naperville, Illinois
University: University of Illinois
Major: Political Science
BIOGRAPHY
My name is Jonathan Bonaguro and I am a senior studying political science at the University of Illinois! I'm spending this year working on my senior thesis on the effects of social media on political knowledge and media trust. I'm really passionate about the use of big data to address the world's problem, and love conducting research. I've contributed to a paper by Professor Cara Wong, and work on analyzing regime destabilization at the Cline Center for Social Research. When I'm not at my desk, I'm an active photographer. I'm currently the Senior Sports Photographer for the campus newspaper, The Daily Illini, and the principle photographer for the Marching Illini where I played sousaphone for three years. I'm hoping to combine my passion for human interest research and photography to hopefully work either as a photojournalist or a research assistant for a newspaper!
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I have a passion for telling stories. I think that no amount of facts or statistics can really highlight a point better than someone's experience. I joined Illini 4000 because I want people to share the stories of people fighting and surviving cancer across the country. Illini 4000 gives us the unique opportunity to help show people that they are not alone while simultaneously raising money to support researchers and doctors as they attempt to help cancer patients around the world. My experience with research has shown me how even a little bit of fundraising can make all the difference in the life of a project. In addition, I'm looking forward to being able to use my passion for storytelling to help continue the Portraits Project while meeting people affected by cancer across the country.